Something I've been thinking about for, genuinely, decades:
For all the criticisms of the original Star Wars, one I will never, ever understand is the outrage towards the reveal of Darth Vader's face.
I remember being maybe six years old, awaiting the reveal with bated breath, seeing the face...
...realizing that it felt underwhelming...
...and then stopping, realizing that this was what (probably?) happens to a face that gets melted by lava,
then having the secondary realization that the fact that [what I now know as] facial differences deserve the same amount of weight and respect as typically-developing faces.
Like...sorry it didn't look "cool enough" or whatever. Maybe take the opportunity to think critically about facial/body normativity, and I mean this in a fully genuine way, not in a "see how progressive I am" way.
That was, in all honesty, my first introduction to facial and body variety as a critical aspect of disability rights long before I even fully understood what that even meant.
There's enough to criticize about the original trilogy. Inclusion of people with facial and body differences/deformities should not be one of them.
Like, yeah: Obviously, in the sociocultural context in which Vader's appearance was revealed, yes, of course, it's off-putting and discomfiting. The audience isn't primed to accept facial/body difference and deformity as equally valid as its normative counterpart.
So I saw this on Twitter right. Predictably, the replies on it are ableist garbage!
"I wouldn't want to look at that while eating!" Then don't look. Didn't your mother teach you not to stare?
"It's because of the warts, not his eye!" Those are non-cancerous nerve tumors btw. Not warts. Even if they were though, who cares? Are people with skin blemishes not allowed to eat food?
"He looks cool! I'd serve him in a heartbeat!" Disabled and deformed people shouldn't have to "look cool" to deserve your kindness and understanding.
"He should get a face prosthetic or an eyepatch!" It is not a disabled or deformed person's responsibility to cover themselves up for the sake of your abled fragility.
"People don't want to see gore in a restaurant!" That is somebody's FACE. People's bodies are NOT gore. If the prospect of seeing a deformed person scares you SO bad, stay home. Take a long hard look at yourself. Fix your heart.
"Guys, be nice, imagine how he feels having to live with that!" You shouldn't have to imagine how he feels about his appearance to be nice and act normal about it. What if he's fine with how he looks? Would that make disrespecting him okay? Of course not.
"It's human nature to be disgusted at people who look injured!" No, it's human nature to want to help those people. The disgust many people feel looking at someone like this is a societal thing. What's the best way to help someone like him? Mind your own fucking business.
I'm so damn tired. I really am. Just let disabled and deformed people exist in peace, because at the end of the day, they're just that: people.
(Tai Chi class. . (photo credit: PIOTR FLITR) Working nonstop in seven makeshift surgery rooms in the capital city of Ho, the doctors operated on many patients in particularly challenging circumstances.
RAMBAM HOSPITAL HOSTS CHINESE TEAMS, TREATS DEFORMED CHILDREN IN GHANA
Working nonstop in seven makeshift surgery rooms in the capital city of Ho, the doctors operated on many patients in particularly challenging circumstances.
BY
JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
AUGUST 21, 2017 17:25
Thirty-five physicians and nurses from hospitals across China are being hosted at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
The group, which arrived at Rambam about a month and a half ago, is part of a three-month training program initiated by the hospital in which the medical and nursing staff learn about how a large Israeli hospital is run.
The Chinese reciprocated by showing Rambam staffers how to participate in a Tai Chi class.
The guests from China, group photo and Tai Chi class.
Meanwhile, Rambam surgeons have joined an international team in Africa to correct facial deformities. One of them, craniofacial surgeon Dr. Omri Emodi, recently went to Ghana to operate on children who were born with facial deformities.
He went together with Rambam plastic surgeon Dr. Zach Sharony on a mission organized by Operation Smile, a US-based humanitarian organization, along with a team of surgeons and medical staff from 12 countries.
“If a child has a facial deformity, it can affect eating, drinking, speaking and, of course, his or her own self-image,” explained Emodi. “It’s as if you walk with a sign on you, especially in Africa.
You could easily be an outcast.”
Patients, ranging in age from a few months to their 20s, came from all over Ghana, some as far as 800 kilometers away. Most of the operations were on cleft lips and palates, while others involved more complex facial deformities.
Working nonstop in seven makeshift surgery rooms in the capital city of Ho, the doctors operated on many patients in particularly challenging circumstances. The 155 operations were completed in eight days.
“You work with a team that you do not know and who come from another culture. But once you get into the rhythm, everyone becomes one team, motivated by the desire to help these people,” said Emodi. “It may take less than an hour for an operation, but it can change a child’s life.
The mission was so satisfying,” he added.
The procedures were done at no cost to the children or their families, as Operation Smile underwrites the project. The challenge is to reach as many possible in the short time available.
“In Ghana, with a population of 20 million, there are only 20 qualified surgeons who can perform these operations,” he added.
The two Rambam doctors previously took part in missions to Vietnam, Ethiopia, the Philippines and other countries, treating dozens of patients wherever they go. They have also taken care of Palestinians and patients from war-torn Syria and neighboring Arab countries.
I might go blind by the time I'm 30. I didn't lift something, do drugs, get into an accident or anything really. I was just born with DNA that had an error.
I’ve been going through a rough time recently. I’m 19 and at Uni, watching many of my friends fall into relationships and finding a guy that I like myself, but I don’t think the attraction is mutual. And that is the exact problem! For many years now I have kept repeating in my head: ‘No guy is ever going to find you attractive, you are not going to have a boyfriend, and you are definitely not going to be married’. I got it ingrained into every part of me, thinking I believed it, I understood it and I could move on and focus on my career, because right now that side of my life couldn’t be going any better. But deep inside, I want to believe that I’m wrong, I want to feel a glimmer of hope that one day a guy will say to me “you’re beautiful”, whilst he is sober and in clear light. I say this because I have got with a fair few guys in clubs over the past year. I’m not proud of that and I regret it every time. When drunk, I just want to feel that attention and for that moment that I’m with them I feel beautiful, but it never lasts long. The next morning I feel awful, I feel like I have betrayed them because they never saw me clearly and if they had, they would have thought twice about calling me beautiful or kissing me. Yet I still do it, time and time again, because I’m that insecure that even though I know the guy doesn’t know me at all, I need some sort of hope. I saw a quote yesterday: “Don't accept the love you think you deserve. Learn to love yourself before anyone else!”. I think it sums things up perfectly right now. I don’t love myself, I have no confidence in my appearance. When I meet new people or make new friends it is less of a problem because I try to be outgoing, I act as though there is nothing wrong with me and I’m just like them, and it works, because friendship is never based on appearance. I make an effort when I go out, I get dressed up, I do my hair and I put makeup on. But that is the other problem, I try to conceal my deformities as much as I possibly can - because I’m ashamed. I try to make people like/love someone that isn’t truly myself because I’m trying to hide a major part of what is me. I hate myself for being so false, but I don’t have the courage to walk out of my front door without a little bit of concealer to cover the redness of my nose at least. I’ll never be able to hide the shape of my nose or lip or my wonky eyes, but I keep telling myself that hiding the redness of my nose makes all the difference. I don’t just want to be in a relationship for the love and companionship (that is the main reason) but I think deep down I want it because it will make me feel like I’m the same as all my friends, like I’m not an outcast. This is ridiculous though because nothing else makes me feel like an outcast, I’ve got the most amazing group of friends and I’m achieving my dream of becoming a vet. I feel so ungrateful for wanting more, when some people will look at my life and think how lucky I am, and I’m too young to be getting so bothered about being in a relationship, but I’ve never looked in the mirror and been truly happy. I make out to everyone around me that I am, but I think the pressure of never being able to find love is slowly breaking me down, when I thought I was too strong for that to ever happen. I’m tired of acting like everything is ok. I’ve constantly tried to avoid admitting to myself that deep down I’m not happy. My friends always tell me “you’re beautiful” but it’s never the same (although I do appreciate the kindness), some say but you’re so clever, lovely and kind. But the society we live in today often values beauty more than any other compliment. So if someone lists compliments of your personality, you feel insulted because they missed out beauty. Why can’t we accept that we are perfect without the mention of looks? Right now I can’t because others aren’t doing so when looking at me.
